Food Companies Are Hiding Sugar In Your Food

Food Companies Are Hiding Sugar in Your Food

Eating added sugar is bad for your health.

It's been linked to illnesses like obesity, type 2 diabetes, and heart disease.

In fact, the average American may be eating around 15 teaspoons (60 grams) of added sugar per day. How is this happening?

A large part of your daily sugar intake is hidden inside various packaged and processed foods, many of which are marketed as healthy.

Here’s how they fool you:

1. Calling sugar by many different names

Sugar is the general name given to the short-chain carbs that give your food a sweet taste. However, sugar has many different forms and names.

You may recognize some of these names, such as glucose, fructose, and sucrose. Others are harder to identify. Because food companies often use sugars with unusual names, this ingredient can be difficult to spot on labels.

Dry sugars…

To stop yourself from accidentally eating too much sugar, look out for these added sugars on food labels:

• Barley malt

• Beet sugar

• Brown sugar

• Buttered sugar

• Cane juice crystals

• Cane sugar

• Caster sugar

• Coconut sugar

• Corn sweetener

• Crystalline fructose

• Date sugar

• Dextran, malt powder

• Ethyl maltol

• Fruit juice concentrate

• Golden sugar

• Invert sugar

• Maltodextrin

• Maltose

• Muscovado sugar

• Panela

• Palm sugar

• Organic raw sugar

• Rapadura sugar

• Evaporated cane juice

• Confectioner's (powdered) sugar

Syrups…

Sugar is also added to foods in the form of syrups. Syrups are usually thick liquids made from large quantities of sugar dissolved in water.

They are found in a wide variety of foods but most often in cold drinks or other liquids.

Common syrups to look out for on food labels include:

• Agave nectar

• Carob syrup

• Golden syrup

• High-fructose corn syrup

• Honey

• Malt syrup

• Maple syrup

• Molasses

• Oat syrup

• Rice bran syrup

• Rice syrup

2. Using many different types of sugar…

Ingredients are listed by weight on packaged foods, with the main ingredients listed first. The more of one item, the higher up on the list it appears.

Food manufacturers often take advantage of this. To make their products appear healthier, some use smaller amounts of three or four types of sugar in a single product.

These sugars then appear further down on the ingredients list, making a product look low in sugar — when sugar is one of its main ingredients.

For example, some protein bars — while considered healthy — are very high in added sugar. There may be as much as 7.5 teaspoons (30 grams) of added sugar in a single bar.

When you read food labels, look out for multiple types of sugar.

3. Adding sugar to foods you would least expect

It's common sense that a piece of cake or a candy bar probably harbors a lot of sugar. Still, some food manufacturers pour sugar into foods that aren’t always considered sweet. Examples include breakfast cereals, spaghetti sauce, and yogurt. Some yogurt cups can contain as many as 6 teaspoons (29 grams) of sugar.

Even whole-grain breakfast bars, which may seem like a healthy choice, can pack up to 4 teaspoons (16 grams) of sugar.

In a perfect world, we would avoid all food with a label. This is almost impossible for most folks, so spend your time scrutinizing labels and buying the products with the least amount of sugars and keep your family happy and healthy!